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Hilary of Arles

Nicene & Post-Nicene · AD 325–500 · 167 passages across 8 books

Commentary

81–100 of 167
2 Peter 1:10

Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall:

Peter is telling us that we should not be content with our baptism but should go on and grow in our faith.

INTRODUCTORY COMMENTARY ON 2 PETER

2 Peter 1:11

For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

Here Peter reminds us that the entrance into heaven is the narrow way of following God’s commandments.

INTRODUCTORY COMMENTARY ON 2 PETER

2 Peter 1:12

Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, though ye know them, and be established in the present truth.

The people to whom Peter is writing already know what he has to say because they have read his first letter. The truth which he has to share with them is the New Testament, for as Paul said: “The old has passed away, and all things are made new in Christ.”

INTRODUCTORY COMMENTARY ON 2 PETER

2 Peter 1:13

Yea, I think it meet, as long as I am in this tabernacle, to stir you up by putting you in remembrance;

Peter thought that it was right to call Gentiles to faith, but the Jews did not. This is why he expresses himself like this here.

INTRODUCTORY COMMENTARY ON 2 PETER

2 Peter 1:14

Knowing that shortly I must put off this my tabernacle, even as our Lord Jesus Christ hath shewed me.

The Lord Jesus showed Peter that his end was near either by a revelation through the Holy Spirit or by his response to Peter when he said: “Get behind me, Satan” or perhaps by dreams and visions in the night.

INTRODUCTORY COMMENTARY ON 2 PETER

2 Peter 1:15

Moreover I will endeavour that ye may be able after my decease to have these things always in remembrance.

By writing to them often Peter hoped to leave something behind him after his death.

INTRODUCTORY COMMENTARY ON 2 PETER

2 Peter 1:17

For he received from God the Father honour and glory, when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.

The one who received glory and honor was not inferior to the one who bestowed these things, because it was in his human flesh that the Son received them, not in his eternal divinity.

INTRODUCTORY COMMENTARY ON 2 PETER

2 Peter 1:18

And this voice which came from heaven we heard, when we were with him in the holy mount.

Tradition says that the transfiguration took place on Mt. Tabor.

INTRODUCTORY COMMENTARY ON 2 PETER

2 Peter 1:19

We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts:

The light which shone on them was the light of Scripture.

INTRODUCTORY COMMENTARY ON 2 PETER

2 Peter 1:20

Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.

You must take care when interpreting the Scriptures not to be too greatly fixated upon the places, times and people who wrote them down, as if they were merely human compositions. Rather you ought to rely on the clarity and sufficiency of the Spirit.

INTRODUCTORY COMMENTARY ON 2 PETER

2 Peter 2:1

But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction.

It is typical of false teachers that they cannot accept the full equality of the persons of the Trinity.

INTRODUCTORY COMMENTARY ON 2 PETER

2 Peter 2:2

And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of.

They revile the way of truth because they have turned orthodox doctrine into heresy, or because they have rejected the rule given to them at their baptism, or because they have abandoned the way of truth.

INTRODUCTORY COMMENTARY ON 2 PETER

2 Peter 2:3

And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not.

The destruction of these people comes from none other than the God of Israel, who is never idle or asleep.

INTRODUCTORY COMMENTARY ON 2 PETER

2 Peter 2:4

For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment;

The angels sinned in three ways, by their pride, by their envy and by their lust. In this verse it is made clear that sin can occur even if it is not done overtly in the flesh. It is obvious that the essence of sin is consent to do evil.

INTRODUCTORY COMMENTARY ON 2 PETER

2 Peter 2:5

And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly;

The ungodliness of those who lived in the time from Adam to Noah was what caused the flood.

INTRODUCTORY COMMENTARY ON 2 PETER

2 Peter 2:14

Having eyes full of adultery, and that cannot cease from sin; beguiling unstable souls: an heart they have exercised with covetous practices; cursed children:

These people even greeted one another with kisses which were full of lust. What was meant to be a sign of peace was transformed into adultery by those who had turned away from God.

INTRODUCTORY COMMENTARY ON 2 PETER

2 Peter 2:15

Which have forsaken the right way, and are gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Bosor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness;

The right way is the way of Christ, who said: “I am the way, the truth and the life.”

INTRODUCTORY COMMENTARY ON 2 PETER

2 Peter 2:16

But was rebuked for his iniquity: the dumb ass speaking with man's voice forbad the madness of the prophet.

The ass spoke with a human voice so that Balaam would understand what God was saying to him. He had become a madman because of his disobedience to the commandments of God, and dumb animals are wiser than that, since they observe the law of nature.

INTRODUCTORY COMMENTARY ON 2 PETER

2 Peter 2:17

These are wells without water, clouds that are carried with a tempest; to whom the mist of darkness is reserved for ever.

These people are empty wells of the kind that animals fall into and die in, because there is no water at the bottom.

INTRODUCTORY COMMENTARY ON 2 PETER

2 Peter 2:18

For when they speak great swelling words of vanity, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through much wantonness, those that were clean escaped from them who live in error.

Pride is always vain because it makes people stupid, as they are without God insofar as they are proud.

INTRODUCTORY COMMENTARY ON 2 PETER

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